Lexus factory driver Ben Barnicoat said he is grateful to Lexus and IMSA team Vasser Sullivan for allowing him to contest a full British GT campaign alongside his WeatherTech SportsCar Championship commitments.
The 2023 IMSA GTD Pro champion is in his first full season of British GT in Optimum Motorsport’s #77 McLaren GT3 Evo, whilst contesting his sixth IMSA campaign.
In addition to British GT, he also started this year’s 12 Hours of Bathurst and the GT Open Spa 500 races with Optimum Motorsport.
“I’m very lucky that I’m in a great place with Lexus and Vasser Sullivan in the USA,” he tells DSC. “They’re an excellent team, and they give me excellent opportunities.
“But I’m also very grateful that they allow me to come here and to take part in these extra races.
“I’m doing this for the love of driving, and my love of driving is to win. So I’m simply here to win this.”
Being allowed to take on the full campaign means his objective is to mount a genuine championship challenge, just as McLaren factory driver Marvin Kirchhöfer did last year with Morgan Tillbrook before falling short at the end.
Eight years after Barnicoat won on his British GT4 debut at Oulton Park, he won overall at the very same place with his #77 McLaren teammate Tillbrook.
They succeeded in the second one-hour sprint race of the meeting, elevating themselves to second position in the Pro-Am championship standings behind Beechdean AMR pairing Andrew Howard and Ross Gunn.
Winning at Oulton Park is the first step in Barnicoat’s journey towards claiming his first championship title since that spectacular IMSA season three years ago.
Barnicoat and Tillbrook finished on the Pro-Am podium in GT Open’s 500-kilometre endurance race at Spa-Francorchamps, where a thrilling second- and third-place battle ran to the chequered flag between Barnicoat and four-time British GT champion Jonny Adam.
Greasy conditions at Spa left little margin for error away from the racing line, and caught out Tillbrook twice.
The outing offered useful mileage ahead of this week’s two-hour Spa round, even though GT Open’s Michelin S9M tyres differ from the Pirelli DHG tyres used in British GT.
Fresh from his fifth attempt at the 24 Hours of Le Mans, where he won the LMP2 Pro-Am class in 2024, Barnicoat is back behind the wheel of more accustomed GT machinery.
“Most of my racing experience is a part of being in Pro cars, whereas now I’m going into British GT Pro-Am racing,” he adds. “Although I’m not physically starting the car (apart from the second race at sprint rounds), I’m doing my best to guide Morgan through it step by step.
“But I’m very lucky that, firstly, he’s a fast Am, and secondly, he’s already got a lot of experience. It’s just offering up as much as I can, trying to keep him calm, and knowing when to attack, when not to attack.”
Tillbrook praised Barnicoat’s work during that second sprint race, handing it to him “on a silver plate” and managing the pressure from behind the wheel to the end.
Although British GT’s Spa race is two hours, not three as on previous occasions, Barnicoat/Tillbrook’s GT Open showing reinforced their encouraging potential.
They hold maximum pit stop compensation time for winning at Oulton ahead of Howard/Gunn, who lead the championship by 5.5 points on the #77 Optimum McLaren duo.
Barnicoat appreciated the classic nature of Oulton Park, noting its narrow circuit width and the importance of decision-making when battling rivals and navigating backmarker traffic. Those factors played a role in his pursuit of Aston Martin factory driver Ross Gunn for the lead before the pit stop phase in Race 2.
“I’m really looking forward to Brands Hatch GP,” he says. “It’s the last race of the season, and that’s actually the only track that I’ve previously raced on (other than Silverstone and Spa) in a GT3 car.
“Really excited about going back there. Oulton Park and Brands Hatch resemble a lot of the old-school American tracks that I’ve become accustomed to over the last few years.
“So I’m really excited to take my knowledge and learnings of America to see how it works out.”
Barnicoat also has unfinished business at Brands Hatch dating back to the 2021 GT World Challenge Europe Sprint meeting.
He achieved provisional pole position in JOTA Sport’s McLaren 720S GT3 for the first race but was demoted to third for impeding other drivers in the session. Unfortunately, he failed to finish, and Optimum’s 2019 British GT Silver Cup champion Oliver Wilkinson did not start Race 2.
Barnicoat has quickly reached the top step of the British GT podium since being reunited with race engineer Rob Courtneidge this year, who previously worked with him at the 2021 Silverstone 500 and with the #77 Optimum team over the past two seasons.
With Spa next on the calendar and such a narrow margin separating them from the championship lead, Barnicoat and Tillbrook remain firmly in contention as Optimum Motorsport pursues its first outright British GT3 title.
A strong result in Belgium would put them in a prime position heading into the second half of the 2026 season.
Images courtesy of British GT/JEP
